


a life in your shape

by idals0



Category: LOONA (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Established Relationship, F/F, implied lipseul... like just one (1) line, kim lip makes a brief appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29058216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idals0/pseuds/idals0
Summary: The thing about Sooyoung is that she isn’t too good with words. It’s funny considering she’s an English teacheranda Gemini, but she’s not one to dwell.Still, she wants Jiwoo to know she cares.(Sooyoung loves. Immensely. She's just better at showing than telling.)
Relationships: Ha Sooyoung | Yves/Kim Jiwoo | Chuu
Comments: 8
Kudos: 126





	a life in your shape

**Author's Note:**

  * For [incognitostan2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/incognitostan2/gifts).



> AHHHHH my first commission!!! (and my first loona fic in a little over a year... ;; I will do better) super super super thankful to incognitostan2 for trusting me enough to write something for her, and for being wonderfully patient and understanding as I work through it <3 I strayed a little bit from the prompt ("yves is not the type to be vocal about her love for chuu, but she shows it in the ways she loves instead") but I really hope u like this ;____;
> 
> also. as a teacher there is just something so personal about writing chuuves as sapphic teachers in love. I had a blast writing this, and I realized that hey... maybe my writing isnt so bad after all... truly life-changing
> 
> anyway! happy reading <3 title is from strawberry blond by mitski
> 
> (p.s. please be sure to ask me before translating or making podfics out of my work! thank u)

Jiwoo works hard. A little _too_ hard, in fact.

(Sooyoung knows this. Everyone who knows Jiwoo does.)

It had been a concern even before they started dating, right when they were Just Friends and even more when their relationship breached past that. Sooyoung would leave school after working overtime and see Jiwoo still hunched over her desk, thumbing through sheet music and writing notes. In the morning, Jiwoo would already be there, greeting the other teachers good morning as she does the final touches on her teaching materials. Sometimes, Sooyoung is early enough to hear her sing.

(Sooyoung pushes the door open. The faculty room is still somewhat warm, the A/C whirring to life in one corner.

“ _Always happy, as can be,_ ” comes a voice. Jiwoo stands up from her cubicle, sorting folders into organizers. “ _Little penguin Pororo_.”

Sooyoung hums along as she passes Jiwoo, not confident enough with the lyrics—or her voice—to sing along. Jiwoo startles, surprised to see Sooyoung so early, but she smiles anyway. _Cute._

“Good morning, Ms. Ha!”

“Good morning.”)

The thing about Sooyoung is that she isn’t too good with words. It’s funny considering she’s an English teacher _and_ a Gemini, but she’s not one to dwell.

Still, she wants Jiwoo to know she cares.

Which is how she finds herself leaning by the side of Jiwoo’s cubicle, waiting to whisk Jiwoo away to lunch.

“Ready to go?”

“Just a sec,” Jiwoo says. She’s biting her pen cap again. “I’m almost done grading these.”

“Jiwoo, we only have forty-five minutes to eat.”

“The canteen’s not _that_ far.”

“Come on. We both know you’re not gonna eat if you keep grading.”

Jiwoo whines and turns to face Sooyoung with a pout. “But I’m _really_ almost done.”

“ _Jiwoo._ ”

“Okay, okay.” She makes a big show of putting her pen down and filing her papers in a neat stack on her desk, then turns to Sooyoung. “Ready.”

Sooyoung rolls her eyes, fond. “Let’s go, I’m hungry.”  
  


(Jiwoo is good at taking care of her. Sooyoung figures it’s probably second nature for her at this point, muscle memory constantly at work to accommodate Sooyoung’s needs.

Sooyoung turns the car engine off and unbuckles her seatbelt, Jiwoo following suit. Sooyoung moves to open the car door but Jiwoo pulls her back.

“Wait,” she says, hand reaching up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind Sooyoung’s ear. “Your hair…”

They sit in silence for a few minutes, Jiwoo combing through Sooyoung’s hair and flattening the unruly strands. Sooyoung almost falls asleep.

“There,” Jiwoo says, holding Sooyoung’s face in both hands. She gives Sooyoung’s cheeks a little squeeze. “Pretty.”

Sooyoung scrunches her nose up. “Are you saying I wasn’t pretty earlier?”

“No! Nothing like that!” Jiwoo turns away to open her door as Sooyoung laughs. “Stop twisting my words, Ha Sooyoung.”)

  
  


“Look what my kids gave me today.” Jiwoo sets an assortment of cards down on their coffee table, all in the colors of the rainbow. She grins at Sooyoung. “Aren’t they cute?”

Sooyoung picks one up, a bright purple thing in her hands. _Thank you, Ms. Kim!_ is written on the cover in loopy glittery letters. A stick figure drawing of Jiwoo with her students and a round orange sun greets her when she unfolds the paper.

“I wish they still did this in high school,” Sooyoung sighs, folding the card and picking another one up. It’s orange this time, with a drawing of Jiwoo as Anna from _Frozen_ on the cover. “All I get from my students is questions about my love life and how old I am.”

“Maybe it’s just a weird high schooler way of saying thank you.”

Sooyoung laughs. “Yeah. I know they’re genuinely thankful, though,” she says, because she does. It shows when her students greet her out in the hallway. It shows when they thank her before they leave after class. She hands the orange card to Jiwoo. “I want to hear about _your_ students, though.” She taps the cover. “Tell me about this one.”

Jiwoo does, face lighting up in fondness. It’s in these moments that Sooyoung is reminded why she teaches in the first place; it’s not just about the kids, not just about seeing them grow and do better. It’s the passion that other teachers carry, too, the kind of lives they lead.

(It’s part of the reason why she loves Jiwoo so much; Jiwoo is good at what she does _and_ she enjoys it. Not a lot of teachers can say the same.)

When Jiwoo is done with the orange card, Sooyoung picks another one (pink and framed with gold glitter glue) and asks Jiwoo to tell her about it again.

Sooyoung listens, no matter how long the story gets.

  
  


**Jiwoo (8:51PM):** look at this

 **Jiwoo (8:51PM):** [image attachment]

 **Sooyoungie (8:53PM):** that’s an apple

 **Jiwoo (8:54PM):** it reminds me of you!!!

 **Jiwoo (8:54PM):** so cute!!!!!!!

  
  


It’s one of the few days Jiwoo chooses to stay behind and work overtime. ( _Few days_ because when they started dating, Sooyoung made Jiwoo promise she’ll only stay overtime once a week at most.

So far, Jiwoo has not broken that promise.)

Sooyoung lugs her things past the department divider and weaves her way towards Jiwoo’s cubicle.

“Special delivery!” Sooyoung half-yells, popping up from behind the partition.

Jiwoo raises an eyebrow at her. Her mouth twitches in an attempt to keep herself from smiling. “I didn’t order anything.”

“It’s me, I’m the special delivery.”

“Ah.”

“Yah, why do you sound disappointed?”

“Because I’m busy,” Jiwoo says, feigning disinterest, but the grin on her face tells Sooyoung otherwise.

Sooyoung sets her things beside Jiwoo’s desk. She pulls an extra chair and settles beside Jiwoo, hooking her chin on Jiwoo’s shoulder. An Excel file is open on the laptop screen. “You hungry?”

“Mmm, not yet.”

“Don’t you have your own cubicle, unnie?” Jungeun says as she passes by, presumably on her way home from another overtime.

“Yeah, but my cubicle doesn’t have a Jiwoo in it.”

Jungeun makes a face. “Should not have asked. Anyway,” she waves and heads to the door. “I’ll be going now. Don’t stay too long!”

“We won’t!” Jiwoo calls after her. She leans back in her seat. “Do you think Jungeun and Haseul unnie are dating?”

Sooyoung unhooks her chin from Jiwoo’s shoulder. “What?”

“I’m just saying!” Jiwoo swivels around to face her and puts her hands up. “They’re almost always together now. And Jungeun laughs at everything Haseul unnie says.”

“Shouldn’t you be working instead of gossiping about our friends?”

Jiwoo rolls her eyes. “I _was_ , until a _special delivery_ came and distracted me.”

“I’m not even doing anything!”

“You’re so annoying,” Jiwoo says, not unkindly. Sooyoung knows she doesn’t mean it, anyway. Jiwoo turns to her laptop and goes back to work.

**Jiwoo (7:34PM):** hey

 **Sooyoungie (7:35PM):** I’m literally right behind you

 **Jiwoo (7:35PM):** i know but im shy to say it out loud

 **Sooyoungie (7:36PM):** ?

 **Sooyoungie (7:36PM):** is something wrong

 **Jiwoo (7:37PM):** can i have a kiss

 **Jiwoo (7:37PM):** pleaseeeeee

The work never seems to end. It’s only Wednesday, but Sooyoung has spent the better part of the past five hours calendaring lessons, revising lesson plans, and grading essays. A glance at her class lists tells her she isn’t even halfway done.

She closes the Word application on her laptop and tucks the record sheets into her plastic envelope.

She looks at the time: 1AM. Jiwoo is probably asleep by now. Sooyoung turns her laptop off and places everything she needs to pack in the morning on her desk.

She turns her desk lamp off and stretches, sighing when her back cracks. She pads into their bedroom and finds Jiwoo at her desk, fast asleep.

She leans into Jiwoo’s space and brushes her bangs to the side. “Hey,” Sooyoung says, tapping her girlfriend’s cheek gently. “Jiwoo.”

Jiwoo doesn’t budge.

“Hey. Kim Jiwoo.”

Jiwoo peers at her with one eye, then shifts to face the other side.

“Jiwoo.” She nudges her shoulder. “Let’s get you to bed.”

Jiwoo makes a small, sleepy noise and sits up. “What time is it?”

“1AM. Come on, let’s go sleep.”

Sooyoung slots Jiwoo’s school papers together and pushes them to one side of her desk. She closes Jiwoo’s laptop, too, fitting it in Jiwoo’s bag in case she forgets come morning.

Jiwoo has dozed off again, head lolling sideways. Sooyoung bites her tongue to keep from laughing and tugs at Jiwoo’s sleeve. “Babe, up.”  
Jiwoo hums, standing slowly and reaching for Sooyoung’s arm.

“You’re such a baby,” Sooyoung comments. Jiwoo wraps an arm around her waist and leans into her side.

“I’m _your_ baby, though.”

Sooyoung doesn’t bother fighting the smile on her face. “Uh-huh. Let’s go to bed.”

  
  


Saturdays are the only days they don’t think too much about work.

There’s no rule that says they’re barred from working on Saturdays, but they choose to give themselves some breathing room before the Sunday night rush of another week’s worth of lessons.

Jiwoo’s head is on her lap. Sooyoung cards deft fingers through Jiwoo’s hair, occasionally stopping to thread part of it into a braid, then loosening it again.

It’s warm.

(Sooyoung can get used to this.)

“Unnie,” Jiwoo says. “Can I tell you something?”

“Anything.”

“Sometimes…” Jiwoo starts, then purses her lips. She takes a deep breath and sighs. “Sometimes I don’t know if what I’m doing for my students is enough.”

Sooyoung looks down at her. Her hands still for a moment. “Yeah,” she says. “I get that.”

“It’s like,” Jiwoo’s lip wobbles. “I know I’m doing my best but it’s so _hard_. There are still—I have students who have a difficult time in class but I can’t figure out what’s wrong. I just want to see them do good for themselves, y’know?”

“Yeah.”

“I just…” She opens her mouth then closes it. Lets out another shaky breath. “I know it’s not completely up to me, either, but talking to parents can be difficult, y’know? Sometimes they just don’t listen. Sometimes kids are better at school.”

“Yeah. Parents _are_ difficult. A lot of them think teaching is easy. It’s not just telling kids what’s on the textbook, it’s helping them go beyond that.”

Sooyoung feels Jiwoo nod in her lap. “Right? And every student learns differently. We have to respect that.”

“God, _yes_ , it’s so hard to tell parents that maybe they just don’t know their child as well as they—why are you smiling?”

“Nothing,” Jiwoo says. She smiles even wider. “I’m just really glad to have you.”

Sooyoung takes a deep breath to keep herself from crying. She busies herself with Jiwoo’s hair again. (Being with Jiwoo feels like too much in the best way, equal parts affection and the desire to do so much better.) “I know you’re doing your best, though,” she says. “Even if the parents can’t see it, I can. Your students can. And I think that’s enough, don’t you think?”

“It is.”

  
  


Jiwoo is good at taking care of her. Sooyoung makes sure she never takes it for granted, wanting to repay Jiwoo for even the smallest of things.

(Jiwoo had pulled her back once, when they were on a date, to take her picture because Jiwoo thought she looked pretty.

“Wah,” Jiwoo gushes. She taps away on her phone, angling the camera in all sorts of directions with a smile on her face. She stops and swipes through her gallery to look at what she took. “You’re really _so_ pretty...”

Then Jiwoo bought sweet bread for the both of them, offering Sooyoung a bite of hers before anything else.

It’s the little things.

Sooyoung is grateful.)

Now said gratefulness has her standing in front of the stove, cooking as big of a breakfast as their latest grocery haul allows her to. It’s been almost a luxury to eat breakfast well these past few weeks, what with exams fast approaching and about to consume most of their time.

“What’s this?” comes Jiwoo’s voice. Her arms wrap around Sooyoung’s waist and she snuggles into the junction between Sooyoung’s shoulder blades.

“Breakfast,” Sooyoung says. She rubs circles into the back of Jiwoo’s palm with her thumb. “Haven’t cooked this much in a while.”

Jiwoo hums a tune under her breath and sways them side to side to what oddly sounds like a K-Pop song.

(Home is an understatement for how Sooyoung feels. It’s home, it’s contentment, it’s warmth.

It’s love.

Cooking fried rice and meat and a handful of side dishes with Jiwoo pressed into her back.

It’s love.

And Sooyoung couldn’t ask for anything more.)

“Sooyoung?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you for cooking breakfast today.”

“I do this every day, though?”

“I know, I just… thought you should know. That I’m thankful. And happy. You know?” Jiwoo gives her a little squeeze. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> twt: @enbykebi  
> cc: @enbyju  
> (please be my friend)


End file.
